Sunday, 8 January 2017

Introduction to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

People that suffer from mental illnesses face stigma from the society. Researchers have found that due to stigma, people avoid seeking help from a health professional as they fear being labelled as ‘mentally ill’ by the society (Tai, 2016). The stigma we have in our country towards this issue is causing a negative impact on proper diagnosis and treatment. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), in specific, goes undiagnosed most of the time. 9 in 10 people who suffer from this disorder do not seek any form of professional support (Tai, 2016).

Despite the fact that Singapore is known to be the OCD capital (Tai, 2016), people often stereotype OCD patients as very clean or neat people.

Many also think that OCD can be controlled and can be treated if the patients really wished to do so. What many do not know is that there is a wide spectrum in regards to the symptoms that are displayed by OCD patients. Generally, most of the symptoms are feeling the sense of fear, having recurring thoughts due to anxiety and repeating actions to relieve oneself from the anxiety that comes with the recurring thoughts (Morrison, 1995).